


Come Find Me Again

by xxMultiFandomLovaxx



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien-centric, Aged Up, Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Lady Noir - Freeform, Nino is so worried about Adrien, Poor Adrien, Protect Adrien Agreste, Secret Identity, adrienette - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-02-05 06:28:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12788790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxMultiFandomLovaxx/pseuds/xxMultiFandomLovaxx
Summary: Does he even have a home anymore? Where would he live? How would he sneak out as Chat Noir now? His whole life was changing again and this time he wasn’t sure how he would cope with it. Adrien slowly stood up and started walking back to the mansion with a heavy heart. He keeps his head down as he walks back and tries to block out all the commotion around him. He tries to feel numb and let his mind wander to another planet, but he can’t stop his brain from going back to his father’s exposure of being Hawkmoth.





	1. You Have Watched Me Drown

Chat Noir looks down in horror, his green eyes as wide as saucers. He feels his chest heave as Hawkmoth’s identity is revealed by one of his own akumatized victims. The Revealer was granted the power to reveal people’s darkest secrets after her crush was revealed by her bully. Turns out that was a poor decision by Hawkmoth as his identity is seconds away from being revealed. Hawkmoth is restrained by the Revealer’s rope of truth and no matter how hard he tries, he can’t break free. He and Ladybug watch as the Revealer takes off Hawkmoth’s miraculous and Adrien feels his world collapse.

Standing in Hawkmoth’s place is no other than Gabriel Agreste, his own father. Chat Noir feels his composure start to slip and his gaze moves to Ladybug in hope of an explanation for this to be some type of cruel trick. “How can that be? He, he was akumatized not that long ago! Gabriel Agreste can’t be Hawkmoth. He just can’t! There has to be some other explanation!”

Ladybug looks just as confused as him, but she makes no move to agree with him. “Chat, she took his miraculous off right in front of us. He must have akumatized himself to make himself seem like less of a threat.”

Chat Noir turns his head away from her as he feels the tears start to pool in his eyes. His baton falls onto the roof and he let out an ear-piercing scream as he falls onto his hands and knees. Ladybug rushes to his side and tries asking him what’s wrong, why he’s screaming. He ignores her as he raises his right hand and activates his cataclysm. Ladybug tries to grab his wrist to stop him from destroying the entire building because they still need to save the akuma victim and capture Gabriel. Adrien knows he’ll destroy the roof if he does this, but in his moment of pure rage at his father he doesn’t care. He pushes her away with his left hand and slams his right hand down onto one of the support beams. The roof starts to collapse and Ladybug swings in to not only save the akuma victim, but Gabriel Agreste and his miraculous as well. Chat Noir watches from the rooftop of the building next to the one he just destroyed as Ladybug breaks the victim’s headphone’s and cleanse the akuma. He watches motionless as everything that the Revealer and himself have destroyed return to normal, except for the pain in Adrien’s chest.

He stood still and watched as the ladybugs flew around to repair anything damaged by the Revealer. Once the ladybugs clear he realizes his father is no longer lying on the ground where Ladybug had left him and is nowhere to be found.

Adrien feels his chest start to heave as he backs away from the scene. Both of his parents are gone now. He’s all alone. Ladybug looks up at him and goes to throw her yoyo to probably interrogate him about why he acted so careless, but he can’t talk to her right now. He needs to get out of there. He takes off running despite her pleas for him to stay and talk to her. She can usually keep up with him when he’s moving from rooftop to rooftop, but he’s so determined to get away that he somehow managed to evade her. He falls into an alley as his ring beeps one last time before his transformation drops.

Adrien clamps his eyes shut as he presses his back against the wall and slides down to the ground with his knees pressed to his chest. He feels Plagg looking at him sympathetically and he keeps quiet for once. Plagg inches closer to Adrien and whispers, “Are you ok, kid?”

Adrien breaks down right then and there as everything hits him. Plagg would tell him if something was a mind game or not. This clearly wasn’t a mind game if Plagg asked if he was ok. Plagg flies to Adrien’s hand and hugs one of his fingers as Adrien lets all the tears and sobs out. He doesn’t know how long he sits in the alley with his arms wrapped around his legs as he sobs into his knees. This can’t be happening to him. He feels everything suffocating him and he can’t breathe. His father was Hawkmoth. Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth and there was no way of denying it. His reveal was televised all throughout Paris. Hawkmoth dropped his transformation right in front of him to reveal his own father. Adrien let out another scream as he wrapped his arms around his waist. He was inconsolable right now and Plagg knew that no matter what he did it wouldn’t be enough to make him smile.

Adrien sat there and let his emotions flow through him as he punched the wall behind him. He had lost both of his parents, but this time he lost everything. His dad was his only family left despite their strange relationship. How could his father do something so horrid to so many innocent people? How could his father do this to him? How could his father leave him like that? How could his father betray him like that? God his father had tried to hurt him, possibly even kill him. His father had manipulated so many people, including himself and Adrien couldn’t bear the thought of it. Did his father feel no remorse? Didn’t his father fucking care about him? Wasn’t he supposed to take care of him? Wasn’t he supposed to keep him safe?

His anger shifted into guilt once he realized he could have stopped him earlier if he knew. He could have stopped all the horrible things his father did. So many people would have been safe if he had just known. They could have captured him, but now he’s on the run as a wanted fugitive and it’s all his fault. Hawkmoth is now running free as the whole city starts its search for Gabriel Agreste. If he hadn’t acted so careless they could have trapped him before her got away and hide his miraculous from the world. Now he and Ladybug would have to search the city for him day and night before he manipulates anyone else.

Adrien knows he can’t stay in the alley forever, but he’s also scared to go back to the mansion. Did Nathalie know? She had to. She was his personal assistant anyway and knew him better than he probably did. She probably fled once she saw the reveal out of fear that she would be discovered, but a small part of him prayed she didn’t. Once his mother disappeared, Nathalie had always tried to talk Gabriel into letting Adrien do small things that he wanted. She had become the closest thing he had to a mother. His mind wandered to his bodyguard. There was no reason for him to be at the mansion anymore. He won’t be getting paid anymore and Adrien also had a suspicion that he knew about his father’s side job as well. Adrien would be all alone again.

His tears have stopped flowing, but sobs continued to fall from his lips. Plagg flew up to Adrien’s head and hugged his cheek with his whole body to let him know he wasn’t fully alone and Adrien appreciated that. He looked at Plagg and noticed just how famished he was. He quietly reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of camembert for him. Plagg takes it and gulps it down before he’s floating in front of Adrien with his antennas down, “We gotta get you home, kid.”

Adrien chuckles dryly at the thought. Does he even have a home anymore? Where would he live? How would he sneak out as Chat Noir now? His whole life was changing again and this time he wasn’t sure how he would cope with it. Adrien slowly stood up and started walking back to the mansion with a heavy heart. He keeps his head down as he walks back and tries to block out all the commotion around him. He tries to feel numb and let his mind wander to another planet, but he can’t stop his brain from going back to his father’s exposure of being Hawkmoth. When Adrien gets closer to the mansion he hears sirens and sees the flashing lights from the police cars. He really should have expected them to be there in search of his father. Adrien can’t deal with the police right now. He wants to be left alone so he can try and process everything, but it’s clear that isn’t an option for tonight. He makes the split decision to transform behind a nearby market and try to listen to what the police are saying before he makes his presence known. He really doesn’t want to be taken in for questioning tonight, but he knows if the authorities see him as Adrien he won’t have a choice. He jumps behind an empty police car that Sabrina’s father and his partner are leaning on as they discuss this evenings events.

Both are clearly expressing their shock that such a powerful business man would do this, but then again, Gabriel Agreste was never the same after his wife disappeared. Adrien sadly had to figure that out on his own and learn to adapt to his father’s new behavior. His ears twitch at the mention of his own name by Sabrina’s dad and decides not to wallow in self-pity for a while to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“Has anyone seen his son, Adrien? The poor kid must be horrified. We have to find him before someone decides to take their anger out against him out of revenge for the pain Hawkmoth has caused so many others.”

“Well we don’t know how much the kid knew. The second his father’s identity was revealed he might have just packed up and left. Who’s to say this kid didn’t know what was going on? Who’s to say he wasn’t protecting him this entire time? How do we know that this kid is innocent?”

There’s a short period of silence between the two and Adrien sees Sabrina’s dad inch closer to his partner with a fiery look on his face as he says, “Do you not fucking hear yourself? He’s just a child! How would he know that his father was doing these things? Hell, the kid was locked up in his house for most of his life! That boy is in my daughter’s class and I have never met someone more respectful, polite, and sheltered in my life. Don’t you dare try to pin some of the blame on him. He’s just as much of a victim as everyone else!”

His partner stands down and Adrien feels the tight grip on his chest return at the realization that many people may think the same way as his partner. Was he a target now? Would he have to watch his back everywhere he went? Would people really try to take it out on him? All he knew was he didn’t exactly want to find out too late. His ears twitch again as Sabrina’s dad moves to the center of the crowd of police and news reporters.

He steps to the podium as questions are shouted at him, asking if Gabriel is in custody? What would happen to Paris? Where were Ladybug and Chat Noir to address the public after the reveal of Hawkmoth? How long has Hawkmoth had possession of a miraculous? Where had he gone? He silences everyone with a rise of his hand and begins his address to the public. Adrien listens quietly as he stays crouched behind the car and out of everyone’s sights. Sabrina’s dad is saying something about how they are searching high and low for Gabriel and now has very limited places to run and hide and if anyone has any tips or finds him to contact the police immediately and not face him alone. They mention how Nathalie is also missing and Adrien’s last shred of hope falls. It was foolish of him to think that she would stay for him, anyway. His attention is drawn back to what is being said and his heart stops when his name is mentioned by a reporter. The Lieutenant freezes before he clears his throat and addresses the crowd, “Sadly we are unaware of Adrien Agreste’s location right now. We are looking for him as well. Right now, he is deemed innocent. If he is found, please call the police so we may escort him to a place he can stay for a few days while the investigation begins.”

Adrien’s eyes snap closed as he tunes out the rest of the press conference. This isn’t happening right now. He’s going to wake up any minute now, his alarm is going to blare some Jagged Stone song, he going to be back in his room, Nathalie will be knocking on his door to make sure he’s awake. He just has to wake up. This aching feeling in his chest won’t be there soon, his eyelashes won’t be wet soon, his cheeks won’t be sticky from dried tears.

The press conference ends and he hears Sabrina’s dad and some other police officer discuss what to do if they find him. Sabrina’s dad sighs and pinches his nose, “Apparently the Mayor’s daughter is a childhood friend. The mayor has specifically requested that when he is found that we bring him there. He thinks it’s best for him to stay with someone close to him despite a total stranger.”

Adrien freezes upon hearing that. No, no he won’t go there. He can’t bear seeing Chloe right now. He can’t bear being near anyone that has any connection to his father until he’s got his head on straight. He knows that Chloe means well, she had done the same when his mother disappeared, but right now he needs to be somewhere far away from anything that reminds him of his father, of Hawkmoth. He sees the police officers move to their cars and quickly gets behind the building he used to transform. He stays there until all the police cars and news vans are gone before he uses his baton to propel himself to the roof.

He loses control of his body as his mind runs on autopilot. He doesn’t know where his feet are taking him and in this moment, he couldn’t care less, if it was far away from anything that reminded him of his father. He leaps from building to building as the pressure in his chest continues to tighten and he knows he’s going to break down again soon, but until that moment comes he keeps running. His legs are straining due to the lack of rest, and his eyes are sore from the crying he did earlier and the crying that will inevitably come. He sees a balcony with a lawn chair not too far away and lets his mind take him there for his body to rest. When he gets there, he has a strange feeling of familiarity, but he doesn’t think he’s ever been here before. He lets his mind try and reply through his memories on when he was ever there when it finally slaps him in the face.

This is Marinette’s balcony.

Although he’s never been up here himself, he’s seen her and Alya hang out up there while he would run his occasional solo patrols. He looks out at the Paris skyline for a few moments and takes in the beauty this city has, the beauty his father had endlessly tried to destroy. He feels another tear slip out and as hard as he tries to stop anymore from falling, he can’t. He turns his back to the view as a low sob rips itself out of his throat. He falls onto his knees and lets the crushing revelation take over him. No matter how hard he tried to deny it his father had tried to hurt his classmates, innocent children, random civilians that did him no wrong, and even his own son. His own father had tried to hurt him, to take away one of his few sources of freedom, to ruin his life. Adrien pounds his fist against the ground once, twice, three times before he stands up again and turns around with his head down. The tears don’t stop, and Adrien feels all his mental strength and energy leave him.

A small creaking noise comes from behind him and he quickly extends his baton behind him and a small gasp falls from somewhere. He picks his head up and sees Marinette had opened her sky door a crack and just the top of her head was showing. He looks back at the ground and retracts the baton at her slightly scared expression. “Sorry.”

Marinette gives him a confused look as she opens the sky door the rest of the way and stands on the balcony with her arms across her chest to fight off the cold, “What are you doing here?”

He chuckles dryly and looks back at the skyline, shakes his head and says, “I don’t know.”

Marinette takes a couple of steps forward to the point that she can touch him if she wanted to, but she wouldn’t want to make him uncomfortable. He was clearly going through a lot right now. “That’s okay. Uh do you want anything? I may be able to sneak you a few pastries from the bakery if you’d like. You and Ladybug had a really hard fight tonight.”

His hands clench into fists, his shoulders tense, and he hisses lightly at the mention of his and Ladybug’s battle. He knows he can’t fight off the breakdown for much longer as the lump in his throat becomes impossible to swallow. He looks at her over his shoulder and subtly shakes his head, “I, I should go. You have school tomorrow and it’s late.”

He holds his baton out in front of him with his thumb hovering above the pawprint button, ready to have it propel him onto the next rooftop before he feels Marinette put her hand on his shoulder. He could just shrug her hand off and go on his way, but her touch keeps him in place. He feels his arms start to shake and his shoulders sag as whatever little strength he had left to fight off his break down slip away. The tears are threatening to spill, and his lips are desperately trying to keep the violent sob in. Then just as quietly as the wind blows he hears Marinette’s worried tone, “Are you okay?”

The baton falls to the ground, his body shakes, the tears flow, and the sob leaves his mouth so much louder than he thought. He turns around to face Marinette again and desperately clings on to her as his entire world crumbles around him. Marinette is motionless at his rapid actions. She lets him hold onto her, cry into her pajama shirt, let his sobs out into her shoulder as she wraps her arms around his back just as tight. She’s never seen this side of her partner before and she’s instantly filled with worry. Her feet stay planted in their position, afraid to move and startle him. “Hey, hey kitty. What’s wrong?”

He cries harder and tries to speak through his sobs, but instead nothing but coughs leave him, and Marinette realizes she must calm him down at least a little bit before he can talk coherently. She raises her hand to the back of his head and lightly rubs the back of his head, something she knows he loves from their nightly patrols. She stands still as he lets the heartbreaking sobs leave his chest in a hurry. She shushes him quietly and whispers that everything will be alright, to let it out, to breathe, to not bottle a single thing up. There’s no space between them whatsoever anymore and Adrien feels her body’s warmth against his and he’d give anything for that warmth instead of the coldness he felt inside.

Marinette doesn’t know how long they stand there for, but she doesn’t care. She refuses to let him leave until he talks to her. He had run away from her so fast, well Ladybug, after the battle that she instantly knew something was very wrong. He never ran off like that without at least saying goodbye. Slowly but surely, his heaving chest and sobs slowed down to the point for him to talk through the tears. He takes a deep breathe, but makes no move to let go of her or look her in the eyes. He sighs as his mouth starts moving a mile a minute, “He-he was revealed, and I-I don’t know if I can fight him and be the partner Ladybug needs me to be. He’s done so much to me, Marinette. You have no idea how hard it was for me to see that it was him. He was close with the mayor and they want me to go to Chloe’s and I just, I can’t go there. Please don’t make me go there, Marinette. Please don’t make me go near any of them. I can’t relive the childhood memories of our families together and-“

Marinette takes his head in her hands then and makes him look at her. Her eyebrows are furrowed together as the rest of her face shows her confusion. “Kitty please. You’re not making any sense. What do you mean they want you to go to Chloe’s? Who’s they? Who’s your family, Chat?”

He puts his head down and knows he’s said to much and there is no was out of this. He feels Marinette rub his tears off his cheeks as he finally makes eye contact with her and he knows he can trust her. He looks around to make sure they are alone and for once the streets are clear. He leans his cheek against her palm and whispers, “Plagg, claws in.”

Marinette’s eyes widen, her mouth opens to stop him, but it’s too late. A bright green light flashes and Marinette finds herself face to face with Adrien Agreste. She’s gasping for air as she takes him in. Chat Noir is Adrien. Adrien is Chat Noir. Adrien’s dad is Hawkmoth. Hawkmoth and Chat Noir were fighting. Adrien and Gabriel were fighting. He had been fighting his dad. She looks into Adrien’s bloodshot green eyes and her heart breaks for him. The usual light in his eyes is gone, replaced with dread, sadness, and loneliness. She lets out a quick sob of her own as she throws her arms around his neck and pulls his head back down to his shoulder. Adrien’s tears flow again, but he isn’t sobbing this time. Marinette holds him so tight in hopes of putting his broken pieces back together. Marinette slowly navigates them to sit on her lawn chair when she feels his knees almost give out. She rubs his back as he cries. “Oh my god, Adrien. I’m so sorry. I’m, I’m so sorry.”

Adrien sobs lightly at that and he backs away slightly and wipes the last of his tears away. “Mari, is, is it too much for me to stay the night? I, I really don’t know where else to go.” He continues to sniffle and cave in on himself and Marinette swears she’s never seen Adrien look so small.

“Of course, you can. You can stay here as long as you want.” Marinette pulls her into another hug as a few stray tears fall. She stands back up and holds her hand out for him to take, “C’mon. We should get you inside.” Adrien gently takes her hand and follows her down into her house and closes the sky door as quietly as he can. Marinette is thankful that she never had the time to put the pictures of Adrien back on her walls, that would have been a rather embarrassing experience. She leads him to her bedroom, then to the large chair she has in the corner. Adrien sits down as she turns her back to him. “I’m going to get you some food and tell my parents that you’re here. They were so worried about you. I, I mean we were so worried about you. My dad might have some spare clothes for you, but they might be a little big on you.”

Adrien sends her a small smile. When she reaches for the doorknob Adrien calls for her. She looks over her shoulder and he let out a sigh and says, “Thank you, Mari. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

Marinette sends him a small smile before she walks out the door to get the things she promised him. Adrien puts his hand on his pocket and feels the outline on his phone. He hesitantly pulls it out and sees all his missed texts and calls. There’s at least thirty notifications from Nino, begging him to answer him, call him, anything, but Adrien can’t bring himself to answer. He knows Nino is worried, but he still hasn’t fully processed everything himself. The last thing he wanted to do was lie to Nino. He scrolled through Chloe’s texts that expressed her worry, but he can’t answer her either. He could barely answer Marinette earlier. He turned off his phone just as Marinette reentered the room with the food she promised, her mother behind her, her arms full of clothes for Adrien. Marinette sends him an apologetic smile, “I tried to tell her I would bring them to you, but she insisted on making sure they fit.”

Adrien nodded his head and tried his best to send her mother a smile, but even that seemed tiring. Sabine looked at him sympathetically and put the clothes down next to him. She placed a light kiss on his head, told him he was welcome for as long as he needed. The corners of his mouth turned upwards slightly before immediately going back into the frown they were stuck in. Marinette placed his dinner on her desk and left the room with her mother, probably to talk about how he even got there. She would come up with something. Adrien used the time to change into the clothes Sabine had given him and they surprisingly fit him well. They weren’t too tight, but also weren’t too loose and occasionally gave him sweater paws.

He sat back down just as Marinette reentered the room, texting someone. When she finally looks up from her phone, she points to it, “I was just letting Nino know you were with me. He’s really worried about you. I understand that you don’t want to talk though.”

Adrien nodded his head and locked eyes with her as the tears once again pooled in his eyes. Just as he starts to reach his arms out for her to hug him again, she is already walking back to him and sitting down next to him. As she takes him into her arms for the second time that night, she maneuvers them so they’re lying down. He rests his head against her shoulder and cries into her chest in an awkward side-hug. Marinette has her arm around him, her head on top of his, as she whispers encouragement in his ear. “It’s ok, Adrien. You’re safe. I’m here for you.”

Somehow during his breakdown, Adrien finds himself growing tired. Marinette notices he starts to doze off, but he forces himself to stay awake. She shushes him and grabs the blanket she keeps on the other side of the chair and drapes it across them. Adrien opens his mouth to protest, probably to tell her to sleep in her own bed, but she simply puts her finger to his lips, effectively stopping him. She reaches behind her and turns off the light as Adrien subconsciously cuddles into her more. She looks down at him before she places a kiss of her own on his head, “Goodnight Adrien.”

Adrien hums in response just before his eyes slip shut for the night. Marinette watches his chest slow to a steady rhythm before she lets her own slip shut as she promises herself to protect him at all costs.


	2. Fighter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long! My semester at school was ending and my workload was crazy. Anyway here's the chapter, hope you enjoy!

           Adrien’s eyes snap open as his body jolts into a sitting up position. His sleep was filled with nothing but nightmares of his father hurting him, hurting his friends, hurting Marinette. His chest heaves as he starts taking in his surroundings. He’s in Marinette’s room, the moonlight is shining through her window, he’s still on her chair, the blanket is still on him, he’s still safe. He rubs his eyes with the juncture between his palm and wrist before he lets out a sigh at the realization that yesterday’s events were not a horrible nightmare. He reaches his right hand out behind him and his eyes widen at the disappearance of Marinette. Adrien snaps his head over his shoulder as panic rises into his chest.

            Adrien throws the blanket off his legs and speed walks to the steps that lead to Marinette’s bed to see if she moved there during the night. When he sees nothing but a made bed, he fears the worst. His eyes frantically survey the room in hopes of finding a trace of her. When he doesn’t find anything, he climbs down from her bed and clutches his head in fear. How could he put her in this type of danger? What if Gabriel saw him remove his transformation and took Marinette as a ransom for his miraculous? What if she just left him? What if she realized she couldn’t help him and left him alone just like everyone else had?

            Before any other fears can further plague his mind, the door opens quietly to show Marinette with a cup of tea in her hands. When she sees the state of distress Adrien is in, she puts the mug on her desk, the dinner plate from the night before now back in the fridge, and runs to him. She takes his head into her hands and locks eyes with him. When he realizes that Marinette is safe he pulls her close to him and lets out a sigh of relief. He hears her muffled voice as she calls out for him. He blocks her out as he soaks in the fact that she’s okay, she’s safe.  He cradles her close to his chest, close to no space in between them, one hand on the back of her head, the other on her back. “Mari, please don’t scare me like that. I, I thought that father somehow got to you. I thought you left me.”

            Marinette holds him just as tight as she comforts him. “I’m not going anywhere, Adrien. I’m not leaving you. I’m ok, so are you. We’re both safe I promise.”

            Adrien nods his head against her shoulder as he regains his composure. He feels his chest rise and fall normally as his anxiety declines. He pulls away from her slightly as he apologizes for freaking out, but Marinette doesn’t let him finish. She takes his hand from her back and rubs it between both of hers in a way to comfort him. He takes a deep breath as his body calms down and rises to his feet, with Marinette with him. She lets him guide her to her window and they see the faint sunlight far in the sky. They soak in view of a Parisian sunrise and Adrien feels something warm yet cold at the same time wash over his body.

            “How could my father want to destroy this?” Adrien finds himself saying before he even fully thought it out. Marinette’s head snaps to look at his profile, but she doesn’t dare speak. This is the first time he’s spoken to her without crying and she knows he just needs someone to listen to him. God knows it didn’t happen often at his home. “He loved fashion, and this seems like it would be an amazing inspiration. How could he want to destroy something so beautiful, something so magical?” His eyes stay glued to the skyline as he feels rage start to seep into his bones. He grabs Marinette’s hand a little tighter as his shoulders tense up. She rubs her thumb along the back of his hand to let him know that she’s there, she’s listening. “Did he even think of me once? Did I mean that little to him? Was I ever anything more than a model to him? Now that I think about it he has put me in danger so many times. He’s akumatized my fencing teacher, Sabrina’s dad while he was in our classroom, Mylene when we were filming that movie for Nino, that hypnotist when he knew I was at that studio and there are so many more times. Despite our distant relationship, every time he was in danger I ran to protect him, I kept him safe, Ladybug and I kept him safe. Now I learn that while he was akumatizing people I knew, people that I was fucking with, he didn’t think of my safety once. He didn’t think of my safety once! I’m his own blood for crying out loud! I’m the last of the Agreste family, and he didn’t give two shits about me the entire time.” Adrien shakes his head as a slight frown appears on his face as he drops Marinette’s hand, “Maybe all I’m meant to be is my dad’s puppet.”

            Marinette’s eyes sharpen the second he finishes. Her jaw drops slightly at the fact that Adrien can even think that letting his dad control his life is all he’s ever capable of doing with his life. She moves so she’s in front of him and cups both of his cheeks as she forces him to look at her. He leans into one of her hands and sighs as his eyes slide shut. “Adrien, look at me.” He clamps his eyes shut tighter for a second before he opens them again and his eyes meet eyes as blue as the ocean. He feels the blue calm him slightly and feels the rage lessen in him the longer he looks into her eyes. Marinette takes a deep breath as one of her hands moves to his hair to scratch at the back of his head lightly. “You are worth so much more than what your father has programmed you into doing.” Adrien goes to look away from him, but Marinette doesn’t let him, and tilts his head back up. “You have proven day and night that you are worth so much more. Think of all that you have done to protect this city. You have stopped everything that your father has thrown at you.”

            Adrien chuckles dryly, shakes his head as his eyes lower away from her again, “That was Ladybug.”

            “That’s not true.” Adrien’s head snaps back up and his eyes lock with hers again, “You and Ladybug are a team, yes, but the reason why the city is always safe is because of the both of you. Ladybug needs you so you both can get the job done. Without you, Ladybug would not be able to save the city.  Adrien, the things you do are amazing and selfless and so incredibly brave. You throw yourself into every danger that comes your way no matter how dangerous it is. Hell you have saved me multiple times and I don’t even know if I’ve properly thanked you. You always volunteer to keep the akumas at bay to buy Ladybug some time. Adrien, everything you do is for the sake of the city. God now that I know you’re Chat Noir, I’m going to be ten times more nervous than before. You’re so intelligent and kind to everyone around you. Everything your father has thrown at you, as Chat Noir or as Adrien, you have handled it so well. You are so incredibly strong and brave. You have so much waiting for you, so much strength that you have yet to discover. Adrien Agreste, you are my hero.”

            Adrien’s chest is instantly filled with warmth at the end of Marinette’s speech. For the first time in a long time, Adrien believes in himself as Adrien Agreste, not only as Chat Noir. He feels as if Adrien Agreste can take on the world; which he’s going to have to do soon because of what his father has once again forced his way. He doesn’t feel a hundred percent ready for it though, he knows he needs more time to feel fully confident and with the help of Marinette’s encouraging words he’ll be at that stage soon enough.

            He pulls her into his chest as he buries his nose into her hair. He always knew that Marinette cared about him, but he never knew she saw him as someone so strong, someone so powerful. He smiles into her hair before he tilts his head, so he can kiss the top of her forehead as a thank you. He feels her tense slightly as her body melts against his slightly in comfort. Marinette has never really opened up to him like this before and it was a side of him he loved to see. It’s a side of her that allows him to see the type of mind she has, see the type of head she has on her shoulders. Marinette is meant to inspire people, meant to give people hope. He chuckles lightly, “You should really be a motivational speaker.”

            She giggles slightly, but it slowly evolves into full blown laughter for some unknown reason. Adrien, although confused at her sudden burst of laughter, joins in with her despite the insane night he’s had. Their laughter consumes the both of them and Adrien can’t seem to let Marinette out of his arms. Ever since he came on her balcony the night before, she had become his rock. He doesn’t know how long he’s going to lean on her, but he’s going to cherish it for as long as he can. He sees the sunlight starting to rise above the Eiffel Tower and his eyes squint slightly as it goes directly into his eye sight.

            “Hey Mari, what time is it?”

            “Um, about that,” Adrien pulls away from her slightly with a confused expression on his face, “it’s 5:18 in the morning.”

            Adrien groans and puts his head back on Marinette’s shoulder, “We have school in two hours and we’ve barely even slept.”

            Marinette pulls away with a serious look on her face, “You don’t have to go today if you don’t want to. Mamam and Papa said they’d cover for you with the school today and the rest of the week if you need. However, there is one thing that they can’t exactly get you out of.” Adrien tilts his head confusedly and Marinette can’t believe that she didn’t see the similar faces that Chat and Adrien made. “They can’t cover you with the police.”

            Adrien suddenly finds his feet very interesting, he should have known that the police were going to be in search of him. He tilts his head back and groans, “You sure Chat Noir can’t be needed elsewhere at that time?”

            Marinette sends him a sympathetic smile, “Sadly you can’t plan when Chat Noir is needed. Luckily Mamam and Papa were able to get the police to hold off interrogating you until tomorrow after the bakery closes. We’ll all go down together so you aren’t alone. However, as much as you may want to go to school tomorrow, my parents don’t think it’s such a good idea. I kind of agree with them sadly. I understand school is a huge deal for you, but right now you need to make sure you’re ok before being thrown to the wolves. As much as Nino, Alya, and I believe you’re innocent in this, other kids may not. There are some sick and twisted people that will think you’re protecting your dad.”

            Adrien takes in everything Marinette has told him and he feels some stress start to enter his body against. He’s never been to the police station or dealt with police officers as Adrien Agreste. Would they be easier on him since he’s technically a kid, or harder on him because his father is Paris’ most wanted and hated criminal? He honestly is thankful for Marinette’s parents for letting him stay home from school to let him fully process what has happened to him in the last twelve hours. While it was nice to have this moment with Marinette he knew he had many things that he had to process first. He knew that this moment of happiness would not last him throughout the day. The second she goes to school in a couple of hours, the betrayal is going to sink in again no matter what he tries to do to distract him. There’s something about Marinette that just makes him forget about the fact that his world is falling apart around him. He knows that Marinette will be the one to help him get back on his feet.

            Of course, Nino will also be a big part in his adjustment to his new life, but since he’s living with Marinette until further notice she’s going to have the bigger impact, as well as her parents. Maybe he’ll finally get to experience what a normal house life is like.

            He pushes that thought to the back of his mind as Marinette yawns into his chest. Adrien separates himself from her and takes her hand in his as he leads her to the ladder to her bed. “As comfortable as that chair is, I’m sure it’s better for your back to sleep on an actual mattress.”

            Marinette shakes her head slightly, “Only if you come with me.” Adrien’s eyes widen out of shock at Marinette’s burst of confidence. Her own eyes widen as well, and she returns to stuttering, “I uh I mean you need someone right now and we slept together earlier. I mean actually slept, not the other meaning of that. That would be so weird and wrong especially after everything that you just found out. You know what you take the bed, I’ll sleep on the chair.”

            Adrien’s laugh cuts her off and the sight of him laughing makes her laugh too. She smiles and releases his hand, so she can start climbing up the ladder. As she reaches the top of the ladder she turns back to make sure that Adrien hasn’t moved back to the chair they were laying on earlier. Adrien sends her a smile as he grabs on to the ladder, “I’m coming, I’m coming.”

          Marinette smiles and starts to pull back the comforter to her bed as Adrien continues to climb up the ladder. She moves around her pillows, one for her and one for Adrien. Once she’s settled, she lays back and watches as Adrien crawls onto her mattress slowly. Marinette has imagined Adrien crawling on her bed before, but she never thought it would happen with tear stains on Adrien’s cheeks. She pushes those thoughts out of her head and pat the spot next to her. Adrien lays down next to her and lets his body take over as he cuddles into her side for the second time that night. He rests his head on her shoulder and she places her head on top of his as her left arm drapes over his shoulders.

            She nuzzles her nose into Adrien’s hair as she drifts back into sleep for another hour before she goes to school. Adrien instantly feels some of the betrayal flood his mind again, but he stops his mind from continuing. He has enough to worry about right now. He looks up at Marinette’s sleeping form and smiles lightly. He’s going to protect her from anything his father will potentially throw at her until his last breath.


	3. Control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I am alive! I'm so sorry for falling off the face of the earth for like two months, but I am back and have more motivation to write more due to one of my classes! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

When Adrien awakes again, he’s alone. Marinette’s side of the bed is cold, empty and seemed as if she was never there. He has yet to open his eyes and he finds himself once again hoping and praying that this was all just a bad dream. Plagg must have had some bad camembert and it messed with Adrien when he last transformed. Unfortunately, those thoughts quickly vanish when he opens his eyes and sees pink walls. He flops on to his back with a sigh and does his best to push off the thoughts that are bound to flood his mind before the day ends.

Plagg comes flying out from his hiding spot before he moves to sit on Adrien’s chest. Adrien does his best to ignore Plagg, but he knows that Plagg won’t leave him alone until they talk. Adrien looks down at Plagg and sighs as he yawns again. Plagg gently pats Adrien’s chest with a sympathetic smile, “Hey kid. How are you holding up?”

Adrien closes his eyes as a shaky breath leaves his chest, “As well as I could be, I guess. It’s too much to think about right now.”

Plagg nods his head in understanding before his expression turns a little more serious. He sheepishly crosses his arms over his tiny chest and looks at him with concern, “I’m not saying this just because I want some cheese, but I really think you need to eat something. You haven’t had anything to eat since your lunch break yesterday.”

Adrien looks down at the sheets in his hands in an attempt to avoid the look on Plagg’s face when he says, “I don’t want to bother Marinette’s parents. They’re probably down in the bakery and I don’t want to bother them during their morning rush.”

Plagg looks at him with a totally unconvinced look on his face with his antennas down, “You’re forgetting that I was with you that time you came here to practice for the Ultimate Mecha Strike Tournament and you nearly had a foodgasm just looking at the pastries her parents made. As hard as last night was for you, you need to eat and stay healthy. You won’t be helping anyone if you don’t take care of yourself. Plus, it’s 10:30. The morning rush ended about an hour ago. If you don’t get your butt downstairs and have some breakfast I will make your suit very uncomfortable!”

Adrien shrinks in on himself a little out of embarrassment before he throws the comforter off his lap and swings his legs over the bed, “I’ll bring you some cheese up. I can’t guarantee a whole wheel though. Maybe when Mari gets back she’ll be able to sneak some more for you.”

Plagg hums in response, trying not to pester Adrien too much after what has happened in the last twenty-four hours. He may be annoying at times, but he’s not insensitive.

Adrien hops down from Marinette’s bed with a small thud. As he walks past Marinette’s mirror he catches a glimpse of his reflection and freezes. He looks like he’d been hit by a train. His face is pale as snow, eyes bloodshot and swollen from the crying, dried tear tracks trail from his eyes down to his chin and his green eyes don’t have the same brightness as they usually do. He feels like he’s looking at a ghost, a ghost of the life he once craved was different, freer. Now he’s wishing that everything can go back to the way it was yesterday morning, when he still had a home, when he still had a father, a distant one but a father none the less and a place where he felt safe.

Adrien shakes his head before he walks away from the mirror in hopes of leaving those thoughts behind. He leaves her room in a rushed walk in hopes to get away from the demons that are plaguing his mind. In his rush to escape, he realizes he has no idea where anything in the house is. He stops in his tracks to catch his breath and listen for any signs of other life in the house. He’s shocked when he can actually hear people talking to each other from the stairwell. He follows the sound of Marinette’s parent’s voices that are chatting and laughing away at whatever comes to their minds. Adrien is hit with a sense of nostalgia; he hasn’t heard this much noise in his house since his mother disappeared and he and his mother were usually the cause of all the ruckus.

He pushes open the door for the main living area and stops in his tracks. Tom is sitting at the dining room table with his head resting in the palm of his hand, a fond smile accompanied with such a soft and loving look in his eyes as he watches Sabine do the dishes as she dances to a song playing from the small stereo they leave in the kitchen. Sabine is using the dish towel as a prop as she dances, raising it above her head as she waves and spins it around, which erupts a quick burst of laughter from Tom.

Adrien watches in awe at the instant warmth that fills his chest. This is what a normal, functioning couple looks like. As quickly as the warmth fills his chest, it’s replaced with a chill because he can’t remember if he’s ever seen his parents like this with each other. Adrien lowers his head to clear the thoughts from his head. He would hate it if he brought down the sweet and loving mood just because of his current situation.

Adrien suddenly feels someone watching him and he looks up quickly to meet Tom’s eyes that are looking at him with sympathy and Adrien doesn’t know how to feel about it. The only two emotions he’s ever seen on his father’s face were anger, or disappointment. Adrien quickly pulls his composure together and raises his head a little higher, “Go-“Adrien’s voice cracks from all the crying and he quickly clears his throat before trying again, “Good morning Monsieur Dupain, Madame Cheng.”

Tom sits up and chuckles lightly, “Adrien you don’t need to be so formal with us. Tom and Sabine are just fine. Why don’t you come and sit with us? We should still have some leftover croissants from this morning. Do you like scrambled eggs?”

Adrien feels his mouth water when Tom mentions the croissants, “Thank you, but the croissants should be enough. I wouldn’t want to be too much of a bother.”

“Nonsense!” Sabine yells from the sink as she drops the sponge on the counter, “You are not a bother at all, Adrien. Marinette said you didn’t eat dinner last night, so I’ll make you some scrambled eggs and some toast, end of discussion.”

Adrien mutters a small thank you as he makes his way to the small dining room table. He sits across from Tom and plays with the end of the shirt that Tom lent to him. He looks up to meet Tom’s worried gaze and lets out a quiet sigh. “Um thank you, for letting me stay here. I promise that I’ll try to be out of your hair soon. I’m sure you guys have plenty of other things to worry about and I’m just in the way.”

Tom’s jaw drops slightly when Adrien finishes. Tom always knew that Gabriel was stern and had Adrien on an incredibly short leash, but he never knew that Adrien was this self-conscious because of it. Tom regains his composure, leans over the table and places his right hand on Adrien’s left shoulder, “It’s no problem at all. You are more than welcome to stay here for as long as you need. You’re not in the way at all, Adrien. You need a place to stay and quite honestly, we would love to help you through all of this. You don’t have to do this alone. You have Sabine, Marinette and me. I’m sure you have a bunch of friends on your side as well. We’ve got your back.”

Adrien tenses slightly and feels the lump reappear in his throat. He really does not want to cry again, at least not right now. He hasn’t had much support in his life since his mother disappeared. Nathalie was kind of double agent when it came to that and Gorilla, well he had to keep him safe, so he didn’t have much of a choice. Adrien swallowed down the lump in his throat and forced his eyes to stop watering. His voice is shaky when he finally speaks up, “You have no idea how much that means to me. I really appreciate everything you’re doing for me.”

Tom sends him a smile as he pats his shoulder one more time before he rises to his feet, “I’m going to run on down to the bakery and grab that croissant for you. Do you want one with cinnamon or just plain?”

“Plain is fine, thank you.” Adrien turns his attention to Sabine once Tom has left the room. He watches her as she adds the milk to the eggs and uses the wire whisk to mix it. Adrien moves to stand by the oven and takes some notice on how she does it.

Sabine looks up at him with a smile as she turns on the oven. “Would you like to help me, Adrien?”

Adrien places a hand on the back of his head and scratches, a nervous tick he’s picked up over the years from modeling, “Oh um, I would love to, but sadly I don’t really know how to make, well, anything. I’d probably end up burning the house down.”

Sabine chuckles and Adrien sends her a small smile, “Well how about we start you off with the toast then? Then you can watch how I make the scrambled eggs. It’s quite possibly the easiest thing to ever make.” Sabine puts the bowl down, so she could grab the loaf of bread and hand it to Adrien. “Just take two pieces of bread and put them in the toaster. One slice on each side of the toaster. Once the slices are in there, just push the little black piece down until it stops.”

Adrien looks at the toaster with a slight nervousness. He’s never had to cook anything for himself before. His mom or the personal chefs always made the food for him and now that he’s without both, he can’t help but feel a little bit helpless. Thank god he had Sabine to show him the ropes of something so simple as toast. She didn’t judge him and instead told him everything he had to do. He tried to follow her instructions as close as possible in fear of somehow messing it up or causing it to go on fire.

After he’s done with the toaster, he moves next to Sabine and watches her as she pours the mixture into the pan. Sabine sneaks little glances his way and is endeared with the way he’s watching every move she does like he’s studying for an exam. She’s glad that she can help Adrien learn some independence outside of his incredibly sheltered life. She shows him how to break it up into separate pieces of egg with the spatula. Sabine smiles and hands him the spatula to have him practice flipping over the eggs. He hesitantly grabs the spatula from her hand and tries to repeat the same motion. He messes up slightly and only flips half of the piece while the other half goes over the edge of the pan.

Adrien winces slightly at his failure and goes to give Sabine back the spatula with an apologetic smile on his face. Sabine doesn’t take the spatula and instead pushes it back in his direction, “It was a good try! You just have to flip your wrist quicker.”

Adrien nods his head and looks back at the pan with determination. His tongue pokes out of his mouth a little bit as he puts the spatula under the next piece of egg. He raises the spatula above the pan and flips the spatula quicker than he did the first time and gets the whole egg on the pan.

He finds himself smiling and he looks down at Sabine with the same glowing expression of a child that just made cookies. “Did-did I just do that by myself? I just kind of cooked something?”

Sabine smiled and patted him on the back, “Yes you did, sweetie! Next time we’ll have you make the mixture too. Who knows? Maybe we’ll even have you help out in the bakery.”

Adrien’s smile widens, and he goes to say something else, but finds himself flinching and letting out a small yelp when the toast popped out of the toaster. Sabine giggles next to him and tells him to take out a plate from the drying rack while she finishes up. Adrien puts the bread on the plate and puts it down next to Sabine as she finishes the eggs and waits for her to pour them onto his plate. He stands on the other side of the counter while he asks her some questions about the bakery.

Tom comes back in the room and smiles seeing his wife being able to bring some joy into Adrien’s mess of a life. He puts the croissant on the plate, “Glad to see you two are having fun. I was unfortunately held up by some customers. What did I miss?”

Adrien perked up a little bit and told Tom all about how she taught him how to flip eggs. Although it was a task so trivial to them, they loved seeing how something so small could bring so much joy to someone else. His eyes sparkle as he talks about how good it feels to do things for himself opposed to having other people do everything for him.

Sabine passes him his plate and gestures for the two of them to sit at the table, as Tom excuses himself back to the bakery to make sure everything is in order for their lunch rush.

Adrien instantly digs in, now realizing how hungry he was from the day before. Sabine keeps him company while they sit in silence. She takes notice of how even when he is scarfing food down, he still has the best manners and posture. She finds herself wondering how often Adrien had time to just be a normal child. Was he ever allowed to slouch, make a mistake, or even have some fun?

She snaps out of her thoughts when she hears Adrien put his fork down on the table and wipe his mouth with the napkin that was on his lap. He smiles at her softly as he puts his napkin down and takes a sip of water, “So what is on my schedule today?”

Sabine looks at him with confusion, “Your schedule? Didn’t Marinette tell you you aren’t going to school for the week?”

“Yeah she did, but I still have modeling, fencing, Chinese and-,“ Adrien stops himself when he realizes his slip up. That isn’t his life anymore. He doesn’t have a strict schedule anymore. The realization terrifies him, he’s never had this much freedom in his life. Every aspect of his life has been planned out for him and now that he has the ability to do what he wants when he wants to he’s petrified. He’s at a loss and doesn’t know what to do. He remembers once again that his life has been turned upside down. “I-I’m so sorry. It was a, uh, force of habit.”

Sabine reaches her hand across the table and places her hand on top of the back of his hand, “Adrien, is that how your life always was? Were you ever able to just hang out at home or relax?”

The lump once again returns in his throat, but this time he can’t swallow it down, can’t stop his eyes from watering. He lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in, “It got this bad after mom disappeared. Fath-,” the word nearly burns Adrien’s tongue and he has to look away for a moment before he can continue, “He buried himself into his work and I guess maybe he thought if he didn’t allow me time to mourn, that it would be easier for me.”

Sabine holds his hand tight and keeps eye contact with him, “You miss her an awful lot, don’t you?”

Adrien presses his lips together and slams his eyelids closed as his vision blurs with tears. He’s yelling at himself not to cry, to hold everything in. He tells himself he’s held everything in long enough, he doesn’t have to hold back anymore. He has time to mourn. He feels his head nodding on its own accord then he hears Sabine’s chair scrape against the floor and her hand never leaves his as she walks around the table. The second her arms are around his body the first tear leaks out and his shoulders start to shake. He turns into her shoulder and lets all the tears out. His sobs go into the kimono on her shoulder and she rubs the top of his head through it all. “I want my mom back. I-I need her back. She was always the one to help when he was mad or did something to upset me and-and now I don’t know what to do.”

Sabine holds his head to her chest as she shushes him, “It’s okay, Adrien. We’re here for you. He’s not going to hurt you anymore. We are here to protect you and keep you safe. It will all be ok soon, sweetie.”

Adrien doesn’t know how long he stays there, but he stays there until his eyes are out of tears. He feels how his life is slipping away, but being held together by him and Marinette’s family. They’re trying to save him from a broken life and give him a temporary one until he decides what he wants to do. They’re graduating in six months and he has yet to decide what he wants to do with his life. He always thought Gabriel was going to lock him in the house again and make him a full-time model, but now he gets to decide what direction his life goes in. While it terrifies him, it excites him at the same time. He doesn’t have a lot of time to adjust, but he’s done it before.

He’s adjusted to Gabriel’s coldness when his mother disappeared, he’s adjusted to when he started going to school, he’s adjusted to when he became Chat Noir and he will damn well adjust to being the son of Hawkmoth with the help of Sabine, Tom, Marinette, Nino, Alya, and Chloe.

This is his life damnit and now he knows that he’ll be damned if he lets anyone else try to take over again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come harass me on tumblr!   
> [itsmarichat](https://itsmarichat.tumblr.com)


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